Garment storage bag display

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a garment storage bag of conventional design, that is adapted to be packaged for sale in flat folded condition, in combination with a device to set up the bag for display purposes to show prospective purchasers the appearance of the bag in use.

United ,stateS Patent Dunne GARMENT STORAGE BAG DISPLAY [75] Inventor: Edmund F. Dunne, Yonkers, N.Y.

[73] Assignee: Clopay Corporation, Cincinnati,

Ohio

22 Filed: Sept. 15,1971

[21] Appl. No: 180,717

[52] US. Cl 206/44 R, ISO/1.7, 190/43, 206/7 H [51] Int. Cl B65d /36, Bd /18 [58] Field of Search 206/7 K, 7 H, 7 R, 206/44 R, 8, 78 R; 190/43; /17; 220/8;

[56] References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,365,303 12/1944 Smith 229/55 51 July 10, 1973 10/1929 Luery 206/8 7/1951 Cart /43 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,124,843 7/1956 France 220/8 Primary Examinerwilliam T. Dixson, Jr. Attorney-James S. Hight et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT There is disclosed a garment storage bag of conventional design, that is adapted to be packaged for sale in flat folded condition, in combination with a device to set up the bag for display purposes to show prospective purchasers the appearance of the bag in use,

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures GARMENT STORAGE BAG DISPLAY This invention relates to garment storage bags and more particularly to a garment storage bag in combination with a device to set up the bag for display purposes.

A garment storage bag of the type toward which this invention is directed comprises a plastic envelope hav ing top and bottom walls, side walls, a front wall and a rear wall. The front wall has a zipper extending vertically thereof to provide access to the inside of the bag. The plastic envelope is suspended on a rigid rectangular rack fitting up against the underside of the top wall, which rack has hooks thereon extending through grommets in the top wall so that the bag may be hung on a closet rod. The rack is designed to receive a number of garment hooks by which garments may be hung inside the bag.

A typical bag of this type may be inches wide, inches deep and 42 inches long, from top to bottom, these dimensions being given for illustrative purposes only. The point is that such a garment bag is adapted to receive a considerable number-of garments and is rather large when in use. However, the bag, for practical considerations, is packaged for sale in flat folded condition. In this condition it is deceptively small so that a prospective purchaser, seeing the package, cannot, off hand, comprehend the true size, and particularly the capacity of the bag. Further, even though the bag may be packaged in a clearplastic wrapper so that the color of the plastic material of which the envelope is made is visible to the purchaser, still, this alone does not give the purchaser any realistic idea of the appearance of the bag in actual use.

In supermarkets and other stores in which customers normally make their own selections without the assistance of a sales person it is particularly difficult for a customer seeing a garment bag in flat folded condition to visualize its true, expanded size or to comprehend its storage capabilities.

It has been the primary objective of this invention to provide a device whereby such a garment bag may be displayed in a condition which it is expanded from side to side widthwise and from front to back depthwise, but

in which it is foreshortened lengthwise to less than one third of its overall height. In this condition, the display 7 bag is adapted to be hung on a rod adjacent a stock of similar bags that are in the flat folded condition so that a prospective purchaser can see what the bag looks like when it is in use.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a perspective view illustrating a garment storage bag combination of this invention set up for display, a part of this view being broken away for illustration purposes;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view in which parts are broken away for illustration purposes;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a typical garment bag in its expanded condition of use;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the components of the display device of this invention.

A typical garment storage bag is indicated generally at 10 in FIG. 3 of the drawings. This bag includes a top wall 11, a bottom wall of equal size (not shown), a front wall 12, a rear wall not shown, a side wall 13, and a second side wall not shown. Front wall 12 has a zipper-14 to provide access to the inside of the bag. As indicated at 15 in FIG. 2, a rectangular rack is provided that is of a size to fit up against the underside of the top wall llLPreferably the rack is made of wire, as is the custom. In place, the rack 15 expands the bag to its full size widthwise and depthwise. The rack 15 carries a plurality of hooks 16, three of which are shown in the drawings, by which the bag may be hung on a closet rod. Further, the rack 15 is adapted to receive a multiplicity of hangers on which garments may be hung inside the bag. Preferably the bag is made of a thin, flexible plastic material that may be of any desired color or design.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an insert is shown generally at 17. This insert comprises side walls 18 and 19, a front wall 20, and a rear wall 21. Preferably the insert is formed from an inexpensive material such as corru gated paperboard. The insert is adapted to be collapsed into flat condition by folding on the vertical lines at the corners. The important consideration is that the insert presents an upper rectangular rim 22 and a matching, parallel lower rectangular rim 23, with the two rims 22 and 23 being spaced apart a distance approximately one third, or somewhat less than one third, of the overall height of the expanded garment bag. This distance may be on the order of 12 inches. Further, the walls 18-2l of the insert are dimensioned to fit closely the width and depth dimensions of the bag as shown in FIG. 2. i

A bottom panel 24 completes the display device. This bottom panel'may' also be made of an inexpensive material such as corrugated paperboard. A flap 25 is turned down from each of the four edges of panel 24. As shown, bottom panel 24 is dimensioned to nest within the open bottom of insert 17, being held there frictionally. It will be appreciated that bottom panel 25 may be placed in the bottom of the bag to hold its bottom wall fully extended when the bag is used for storage purposes. This panel thus serves a double purpose.

To set up the display, the bag is first removed from its wrapping, opened at zipper l4, and the rack 15 put in place against the underside of top wall 11 such that the hooks 16 project through grommets 26. Insert 17 is then placed inside the bag with the upper rim 22 resting against the underside of the rack 15. At this time, all of the excess material of the garment bag below the lower edge of rim 23 is gathered and stuffed up inside the open bottom of the insert as shown generally at 27 in FIG. 2. With the excess material of the bag thus in place, bottom panel 24 is fitted up inside the insert to i hold the excess material 27 above it and out of sight.

The display thus provided is a substantially foreshortened version of. the fully expanded bag, preferably being less than one third of the overall height of the expanded bag to conserve space. However, the bag is expanded to its full size widthwise and depthwise so that seeing it in this condition a prospective purchaser readily can appreciate the true appearance of the bag in actual use.

I claim:

1. A garment storage bag adapted for display pur poses comprising, in combination:

a. an envelope of thin flexible material having a top wall, a bottom wall, side walls, a front wall and a rear wall, said front wall including means to provide access to the inside of said envelope,

b. a rigid rack dimensioned to fit up against the underside of said top wall to expand said wall to its full width and depth,

c. hooks extending from said rack through said top wall and adapted to engage means such as a closet rod,

d. an insert presenting a lower rectangular rim and an upper rectangular rim, said rims being of the same size and paralleling one another but being spaced vertically from one another somewhat less than one third of the overalll height of said envelope,

c. said insert adapted to be positioned in the bag with the upper rim against the underside of the rack f. and a bottom panel configurated to nest within the bottom of said insert and adapted to be held therein frictionally, whereby with the insert in place inside the envelope, all of the material of the envelope below the lower rim of the insert may be stuffed up inside the insert and the bottom panel gated paperboard material. 

1. A garment storage bag adapted for display purposes comprising, in combination: a. an envelope of thin flexible material having a top wall, a bottom wall, side walls, a front wall and a rear wall, said front wall including means to provide access to the inside of said envelope, b. a rigid rack dimensioned to fit up against the underside of said top wall to expand said wall to its full width and depth, c. hooks extending from said rack through said top wall and adapted to engage means such as a closet rod, d. an insert presenting a lower rectangular rim and an upper rectangular rim, said rims being of the same size and paralleling one another but being spaced vertically from one another somewhat less than one third of the overall height of said envelope, e. saId insert adapted to be positioned in the bag with the upper rim against the underside of the rack f. and a bottom panel configurated to nest within the bottom of said insert and adapted to be held therein frictionally, whereby with the insert in place inside the envelope, all of the material of the envelope below the lower rim of the insert may be stuffed up inside the insert and the bottom panel put in place to nest within the bottom of the insert to provide a foreshortened display.
 2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said insert is of box-like construction and open at the top and bottom.
 3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said bottom panel has flaps depending from the edges thereof.
 4. The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said insert and said bottom panel are made of corrugated paperboard material. 